The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-07-14
THE WORLDS WASTE.
Fortunes Annually Thrown Away in Un-
considered Tri1es.

considered Triies.
wish / had nickel for every dollar
wasted in this country. Yes, I'll reduce
that proposition to cent on the dollar,
and then retire rich in few years. /
don't mean wasted by the rich, but by
the poor and the moderately well off.
And when l say waste, don't include
flowers, pictures or articles solely for the
eye, nor do | consider it waste for rich
man to have suit for every day in the
year, or 500 pairs of pantaloons, like that
estimable New York gentleman, Berry
Wall. mean waste in every day, mat
ter of fact articles such as everybody
uses.
Let us take pins, for starter. You
have doubtless been asked what becomes
Of the pins and didn't know. Nobody
knows, not even the English journal that
recently offered a cash prize for solu-
ton Of the problem. They are lost, and
that's all you can say about it. But why
should they be lost? You don't lose your
diamond pin, although it's not much
larger than a common brass one. 1t Is
evident that the pins could be taken care
of, and that they ought to be let figures
attest. There are 60, 100000 people in
the United States. and [ am sure every
one on an average loses five cents worth
of pins per annun. That makes $3,000,-
600 a year gone nowhere. My / per
cent. on that would give me $4,000 a
year; enough to clothe me, at any rate.
Just think of $500, 600 year lost for
ever, as not one pin in 90, coo, coo is ever
found again.
But that is only beginning. Let us
| take up cigars and pipes as the next arti-
Gle on the catalogue of waste. Don't be
alarmed! am not going to compute the
cost of smoking and call it waste, because
I am a smoker and have scfuples. an
| going to concede that money invested ifi
| tobacco is well Invested and then open
your eyes to another awful leak. Let ug
approach the subject gradually, because
it is vast. There are 100000 cigars a
week smoked in this city and 100000
| pipe loads of tobacco. Don't ask me how
l know this data-you put me out. Av-
| erage cost of cigar to consumer, five
cents; total cost, $500 Average cost
of pipe load, one cent; total cost, $50, 900.
| Grand>total, $40, 900 a week expended,
! and of this amount one-fifth is wasted.
| After long observation and careful calcu-
| lation [ find that fifth of each cigar
is thrown away unsmolzed and the same
proportion of each pipe load, This may
seem large, but I am confident that it is
rather under the average, and it repre-
seIits a loss of S14 ZOO week, or $72S,-
0C0 a year. Remember, this in Philadel-
pnia alone, and | can safely multiply il
ly fifty to include the rest of the country.
Grand total, $50, ,400,00 on which my
percentage is $364,000. l already have
a respectable income you perceive.
Now we come to liquors -vinous, malt
and spirituous-to be treated in the sans
way. The average man leaves a portion
in his glass; not much, to be sure, for
times are hard, but at least twentieth.
Another wasteful habit prevails of blow
ing the froth off beer, but I viii let that
pass. To figures again: Six thousand
saloons, at 100 drinks per saloon and av-
erage cost eight cents, equals $4,000 a
day, or $13, ,024, 900 a year. Five per
cent. waste equals 1861 200 for Philadel-
phia, $32, $50, 900 for the whole country
and $325 900 for me-
am only in the suburbs OF this sub
ject, and already am appalled, at the
amount of territory that stretches before
me. l will have to bunch my hits. 1t
is estimated by careful housekeepers that
one-tenth of each pot of coffee or tea is
not fit to drink, and what to do with the
slops no one knows. Jumping the crusts
of bread, ends of steaks, dabs of butter,
crumbs of cake and pie remnants, | am
within bounds when l say that one-tenth
of every meal goes to waste, and since
every body eats, even if they don't smoke
or drink, the aggregate must be enor-
nous. viii not enter into figures, but
vii! content myself with taking $780, 900
a year as my percentage.
| have not finished, even if do quit.
In the matter of buttons there must be a
large sum coming to me, and likewise in
the item of matches. Very few persons
make a match do its full duty. Then
look at the unnecessary amount Of paper
that is used in making fires by women,
I.when old paper is worth a cent pound.
There are other things too numerous to
mention, and | have not taken at all into
account the things that are thrown away
and return to their original elements, and
SO III a measure are not wasted. | am
aware that the list is incomplete, and I
feel sure you viii be able to supplement
it from your experience. Philadelphia
Call